Check out the timelapse of the aurora we captured on Monday night at the Observatory. For those unfamiliar, the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) and the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) are incredible natural occurrences that occur when electrically charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's atmosphere. It's like what happens inside a neon sign. The green aurora is the most common colour seen and is produced when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules at altitudes of 100 to

1.1M views · 15K reactions | 360 timelapse footage of the Aurora Borealis  Kashwitna Lake, Alaska  William Briscoe Photography | UNILAD Adventure | Facebook

359K views · 10K reactions | Spectacular Northern Norway  | Aurora Borealis Observatory | Facebook

60K views · 788 reactions | "That is insane." An aurora chaser captured a bright aurora lighting up the sky in Alaska—and turning the ground a "radioactive" glowing green. https://abcn.ws/2FLyzTu | ABC News | Facebook

Once thought to be portents of doom, auroras are now known to be remarkably common phenomena, caused when electrically charged electrons and protons accelerate down the Earth’s magnetic field lines and collide with neutral atoms in the upper atmosphere—usually about 100 km above the Earth. This video explains what causes the beautiful lights of the aurora. For more information visit: www.sws.bom.gov.au/Aurora International Space Station footage courtesy of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space A